The sales volume of new car-making forces has increased collectively In the new energy vehicle market, who is in charge of bull ears

Recently, a number of new energy vehicle companies announced their November report cards. The sales of new forces such as Weilai, Xiaopeng Automobile, and Ideal Automobile have exceeded 10,000, and the new forces of second-line car manufacturing have also performed well. At the same time, traditional car companies have increased their investment in the field of new energy vehicles, sales have increased significantly, and the "counterattack war" has been launched in an all-round way.

The sales figures are eye-catching

"There are a lot of people coming to see the car on the weekend, seven or eight people asking questions around a car at the same time, and test driving also has to queue up." A Ms. Du, who has just returned from a test drive at a Xiaopeng automobile experience store in Beijing, told reporters.

The popularity of the sales market is directly reflected in the monthly delivery data of Xiaopeng Automobile. In November, Xiaopeng Automobile delivered 15,613 vehicles, an increase of 54% month-on-month, an increase of 270% year-on-year, and the delivery volume exceeded 10,000 for three consecutive months, and the monthly delivery volume reached a new level. Cumulative deliveries in the first 11 months of this year were 82,155 units, up 285% year-on-year.

A number of new car-making forces delivered new energy vehicles in November. Ideal Cars delivered 13,485 Ideal ONE units in November, up 190.2% year-on-year. Nio's total deliveries in November were 10,878 units, up 105.6% year-on-year. The new forces of second-line car manufacturing have also performed well. Among them, Nezha Automobile's delivery volume in November advanced into the "10,000 Vehicles Club", delivering 10,013 vehicles, an increase of 372% year-on-year. WM Motor delivered 5,027 units in November, up 66.6% year-on-year.

Mr. Yang, the second-born "daddy", recently bought an ideal ONE. "Usually use electricity for commuting, charging costs are low; occasionally take your wife and children back to your hometown, and you can also refuel on the highway." New energy vehicles are the trend, and there are many scenes in the intelligent cockpit that are very humane. Mr. Yang told reporters.

Mei Songlin, a senior analyst in the automotive industry, believes that unlike traditional fuel vehicles, intelligent electric vehicles belong to a new category, breaking the shackles of traditional thinking. The car is no longer a mechanical product, but an evolvable and vital intelligent terminal. The new car-making forces have the advantage of rapidly adapting to changes in terms of operating methods, processes, concepts, and talent structures.

Yang Lizhong, general manager of the intelligent manufacturing and high-tech investment department of GF Shun Tak, told reporters that the automotive industry has changed as never before, integrating innovation in materials, sensors, chips and other dimensions. In the field of new energy vehicles, the new forces of car manufacturing have no baggage, and have Internet thinking, the strategy of selecting models and core components is relatively aggressive, the pace of update iteration is fast, and the experience of end users is fully considered. New car-making forces face challenges. Guo Feng (pseudonym), an executive of a leading car company, told China Securities News that the new car-making forces need to "make up for the shortcomings" in the control of the traditional manufacturing system.

Explore differentiated paths

"The driver assistance feature is appealing. The new forces of car-making are more radical in the field of intelligence, which is more in line with the mentality of young people to taste early. The price of smart electric vehicles is constantly decreasing, and enjoying the latest scientific and technological achievements in advance is an important reason for buying smart electric vehicles. Li Li, the owner of Xiaopeng P5, told reporters.

Industry insiders pointed out that consumers' focus has shifted more from the past engine, chassis, and transmission to automatic driving, intelligent entertainment, and special service capabilities.

A few days ago, WEILAI announced that the battery upgrade project was fully launched on a monthly basis, and users could experience the longer battery life of the new battery without changing the car. In 2022 or the first half of 2023, NIO will achieve upward and downward cross-level flexible power exchange. Qin Lihong, co-founder and president of NIO Automobile, said that flexible power exchange is the last piece of the puzzle on the NIOPower territory that CANOLA can charge, replace and upgrade, forming its own commercial closed loop.

Compared with traditional car companies, the new car-making forces have more Internet genes at the marketing level, and the establishment of brand direct sales centers is an important way for the new car-making forces to directly establish contact with users. Ideal Auto recently disclosed that as of the end of November this year, the company has established 80 direct delivery centers, covering 77 cities across the country. Next, Ideal Will further expand its delivery center network. In addition, Nezha Automobile and Xiaopeng Automobile are also actively expanding their direct sales networks and breaking the traditional 4S store business model.

Shen Jinjun, president of the China Automobile Dealers Association, believes that the traditional automobile sales model is facing an unprecedented test, automotive products and technologies are changing, the market structure is changing, consumer demand is changing, and channels are bound to change. Tesla, "Wei Xiaoli" and other new car-making forces, as well as traditional car electric vehicle brands are carrying out channel innovation, testing the water direct operation or agency and other sales models, exploring multi-channel marketing, and finding a balance between user experience and cost efficiency.

Guo Feng pointed out that whether car companies can find a differentiated path is very critical. From the perspective of technology, business model and other dimensions, car companies are competing around product performance, some with the help of previously accumulated product quality and control system reputation, and some adopt new marketing models to get attention.

Compete for market segments

According to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, from January to October, domestic sales of new energy vehicles reached 2.542 million units, an increase of 1.8 times year-on-year. Some people believe that the production and sales scale of domestic new energy vehicles this year is expected to exceed 3 million.

Industry insiders pointed out that pure electric technology has become the preferred direction for car companies. It is worth noting that the high-end intelligent electric vehicle models of traditional car companies such as Sharon, Extreme Krypton, Zhiji, Avita, and BAIC Jihu HI Version will be listed and delivered in 2022, forming a head-on competition with the main products of new forces such as Weilai, Xiaopeng and Ideal. With the continuous enrichment of pure electric vehicle models, the intelligent electric vehicle market will become more and more competitive in 2022.

In this regard, Lu Fang, CEO of Lantu Automobile, believes that whether it is a new brand of traditional car companies or a new force in car manufacturing, the core goal should be how to achieve the transformation of energy structure, so that more fuel vehicles are replaced by new energy vehicles, and jointly make the cake bigger.

The A-segment car market has always been regarded as a "comfort zone" for fuel vehicles, accounting for nearly half of the entire car market, and is also the most competitive segment.

"Similarly, the share of the A-segment car market has played a huge role in increasing sales of electric vehicle companies, and there is no absolutely leading boutique model in this segment. Car companies that are the first to create one or more boutique models in the blue ocean market will have brand advantages that cannot be quantified. Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the Association, told reporters.

Shen Hui, founder, chairman and CEO of WM Motor, expects that by 2030, electric models in the price range of 150,000 yuan to 250,000 yuan will account for about 60% of the market share, and the penetration rate will increase from 3% to 40%.

Analysts at Tianfeng Securities said that the current new energy vehicle market in the range of 100,000 yuan to 200,000 yuan has great potential and is in urgent need of hot models. With the launch of a new generation of hybrid technology models equipped with traditional car companies, pure electric models will compete head-on with hybrid models.